silver lining
by akkyylle
Summary: -SasuSaku- "It never occurred to me that someday, I would feel this way about you. But I have, I do, and I will."


**ANGST. **Beware of the angst. I'm depressed, you see.

* * *

**SILVER LINING**

_because things will never be the same_

_not anymore_

* * *

It was a beautiful, beautiful day.

The skies were a light blue hue, covered by thin snippets of clouds that were barely even there. Birds littered the place above, chirping and singing and making beautiful, beautiful sounds. Soft and breezy was the wind that caressed them, enveloping each and every person in a warm but cold embrace that seemed to take their minds off of the turmoil they both felt inside.

Trees swayed softly along with the wind, their sturdy branches flinching ever so slightly to follow the direction it was blowing them into, like loyal puppets being pulled at their strings by their favourite master. And because they were just that – puppets, they willingly, willingly obey.

The flowers, ah… their breath taking petals and their smell that isn't too strong for the nose overwhelms them all, enveloping the clearing in this beautiful feeling of peacefulness and love, emitting an aura of pleasantries and subtlety.

Heat from the sun was emitted off in various directions, its rays piercing through the thick leaves and branches, peeking through just a bit to give a subtle amount of light. It was seven am in the morning, you see, and it wasn't really hot yet nor was it very cold. It was just right, just right. Just right. Balanced. Perfect.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day.

A girl – pink-haired, tall but petite took in her surroundings, her viridian green eyes travelled ever so slowly from the trees, to the flowers, to the sky. She breathed it in, memorized it, dared to imprint it onto her bright mind.. never to be forgotten.

Like the boy she used to come here with all those years ago.

Where was he now? She wondered.. Does he still come here? Has he… forgotten about me? Does he still remember, does he still think about me.. like I think about him?

Questions like this plagued every inch of her mind as she sees the familiar haven spread out in front of her. She takes a step, then back, as if unsure if she should go forward, if it was right or wrong. If it would change anything or if it would just be a failed attempt to make things right.

A hand suddenly touches her shoulder, and she flinches slightly, her head turning to the direction of the person touching her. It lingers there, until she realizes that she knew this boy.

Viridian green instantly drown in onyx pools.

Sasuke Uchiha – the boy she's loved since she first laid eyes on him. He was her first love, her true love. The one she loved with all her heart. Too bad, this boy, this beautiful, beautiful boy didn't feel the same.

No. This handsome boy, _man, _holding her didn't return her feelings. Because for him, love was a weakness. A liability. He didn't believe in love, in happy-ever-afters, in endings that were anywhere near happy, pleasant, good, _right._

Her eyes are full of longing, as she glances at the man beside her. His grip on her shoulder still lingers, his onyx orbs held hers in an unwavering stare. Words they couldn't ever, ever say hung thickly in the morning air, the tension so thick you could slash through it with a knife. A kunai wouldn't do the trick.. no, it had to be a knife.

Like the knife painfully embedded in her heart ever since that day. It has never left, it was never pulled out. It simply stayed there, bleeding her out, cutting through her veins and making her feel all the pain she knew she didn't deserve.

But of course, that wasn't true. What an exaggeration, neh? Because if that were true, then she wouldn't be here now. She would be dead, and she wouldn't be able to see his handsome face ever again. She wouldn't be standing beside him, relishing the feeling of having his calloused hands gripping her shoulder tightly.

She wouldn't be able to look into those onyx pools, overwhelmed by the feeling of love and longing.

But the pain, she felt it. She felt it all. And it… hurt. Even now. Even after all those years. Six, to be exact. It had been six agonizingly long years. And it surprised her somehow that her heart didn't beat erratically when she saw him, nor was her stomach fluttering with snakes and butterflies. Her hands didn't shake with nervousness, nor did her body shiver or react to his touch.

Numb. That was all she felt.

The pain, it was there. The longing, it was there. The love, it was still there. But the excitement? The rush, the pleasure? Gone. It was all gone.

And now, she didn't even know whose fault it was. All she knew was that things…. Were not like they were before. Things had changed. For the better, or for the worse, she didn't know.

"Sakura," he had called out softly, tenderly, with that deep, velvet voice of his. Eyes that belong to the man softened slightly as he called out her name. "what are you doing here?"

The girl, no, the woman sighed, bringing her hand up to touch his hand before shrugging it off her shoulders. "What I should've done all those years ago."

She replies with a firm tone, all the stuttering she used to have in his presence completely erased. The girl he remembered, the one who stuttered, fidgeted, shook with uneasiness and nervousness whenever she was with him was now gone. Replaced by this woman he barely knew. Someone more confident, mature.

Her eyes didn't shine the way they used to. And he didn't like it, not one bit.

He breaks the eye contact, choosing to remain silent as he gazes at his hands.. the one she touched. Now, he was the one feeling it. How ironic.

Minutes that pass feel like hours to them, but it was neither awkward nor uncomfortable. It was just… weird. "Do what, Sakura?" he finally said, and he found himself being scared of her reply.

She brings her left arm up, showing him her hand as she flips it slowly. Something is glistening in the sun, something that was clearly placed on her ring finger.

A diamond ring.

Sakura Haruno – the girl he went here with all those years ago, the girl who was madly in love with him, Sasuke Uchiha, the avenger who threw that all away for a mission that never once made him happy. The girl who was willing to do everything to be with him then, was now showing him the one thing that made it impossible to be with him now.

She's married. She's fucking _married. _He's too late… six years too late. And the fact made his heart sink low in his stomach.

No words were exchanged, both just stared at the ring glistening in her finger, glistening under the sun's rays. They both look at each other, and the gaze she held suddenly made him aware of the identity of her husband.

"Move on, Sasuke-kun. I should've moved on right away." She brings her arm down to rest at her side. She slowly turns her body to face him, and he does the same, eyes never leaving her petite form. "But I didn't. I couldn't. I just… couldn't do it. I didn't want to."

His mouth parts open, then closes, as he realizes that there was nothing he could say.

"I waited, Sasuke-kun. For six long years. I thought you'd come back, sweep me into your arms and we'd live happily ever after. But you never did believe in it, didn't you? You never believed in love, even though I was there, right in front of you, making you feel all those things that I'm sure you still feel now."

She was right, but he didn't acknowledge it. He just stared at her, brooding silently, and patiently waited for her to continue.

"I know.. I know all of this because I still feel it, too." She sighs heavily, and she clutches her heart in a way that looked so agonizingly painful and heartbreaking. If her actions didn't make that clear enough, the tears present on her pale face made it crystal clear. Her heart was breaking in front of him.

And it made his heart break, too.

"But you're too late. You're six years too late. Everything… everything I wanted you to be, everything I wanted you to do.. he was the one who did it. He became who I was looking for. And even though he wasn't you, and I know, never will he be you, it's enough. Naruto is enough for me."

She pauses, looks him straight in the eye unflinchingly, tears continuously pouring down her cheeks.

"Because unlike you, he never left my side."

They stay like that, eyes on each other, conveying emotions they felt in those six years they were apart. All the choices they made, whether good or bad, played out in front of them as they see the one they wanted to spend their forever with. And as they come to the realization that it would never happen, they see each other break into tiny little pieces.

And for the first, and possibly the last time in Sakura's life, she saw a tear slip out from Sasuke's onyx orbs.

With that, she turned on her heels, walked away from him and never looked back. His unsaid words hung thickly in the morning air, coming to her in barely a whisper… reassuring her that things will never be alright. Because things are not the same.

Not anymore.

"_It never occurred to me that someday, I would feel this way about you. But I have, I do, and I will."_

It was a beautiful, beautiful day.

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_Tell me what you think. Go and press that little button there that says 'Review'. It would make me happy. Very._

_-A_


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